Tag: top-stories
Hellaware | Review
Satirize This: Bilandic’s Scruffy Send-up of NYC Art Scene
Though starting off on a stronger note than where it eventually ends up, Michael M. Bilandic’s...
The Texas Chain Saw Massacre: 40th Anniversary Collector’s Edition | Blu-Ray Review
There’s no denying the cultural magnitude of Tobe Hooper’s 1974 grindhouse classic The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Inspiring legions of seminal directors, as well as...
The Liberator | Review
Plowing the Sea: Arvelo’s Portrait of Famed Leader Hardly Revolutionary
Arriving with all the earmarks of a truncated and incredibly abridged version of history in...
The Blue Room | Review
Blue in the Face: Amalric’s Simenon Adaptation an Exquisite Enigma
Though actor/director Mathieu Amalric’s last directorial effort, On Tour (2010), landed him a Best Director...
Men, Women & Children | Review
I Tumblr For You; The Kids Aren't Alright in Reitman's Latest
Parents and their burgeoning teenagers battle their insecurities and repressed sexuality amidst ever present technology...
Days and Nights | Review
Birds of a Feather: Camargo’s Debut a Tepid Chekhovian Transplant
Contemporizing classic literature can be a tricky feat, though it more often than not seems...
Jimi: All is By My Side | Review
Before the Haze: Ridley’s Nuanced Portrait Worthy of Legendary Subject
After a rather cool reception following high profile festival play at Toronto and SXSW, John...
The Little Bedroom | Review
Good Grief: Nuanced Dramatic Debut Lands Long Awaited Release in US
Initially premiering at the Locarno Film Festival in 2010, the directorial debut of Stephanie...
Corbo | 2014 TIFF Review
Vive la FLQ: Revolutionary Tactics as Performance of Identity
With Corbo, Mathieu Denis’ second feature-length film, the Quebecois director has established an auteur focus on...
Pride | Review
The Climate Was Changing: Warchus Revisits 80s Set Instance of Activism
British director Matthew Warchus first appeared in 1999 with his directorial debut, Simpatico, based...
2014 TIFF: Safdie Bros.’ Heaven Knows What
Following the premiere of their caustic new film, Heaven Knows What, at the 2014 Toronto International Film Festival (it premiered in Venice and had...
Two Night Stand | Review
About Last Night: Nichols’ Debut Paddles Vainly Around Notions of Modern Love
Director Max Nichols makes his directorial debut with Two Night Stand, almost entirely...
The Equalizer | Review
Sequelizer: Fuqua Resurrects Vintage TV Series to Maudlin Effect
Upon the project’s official announcement, it may not have seemed a necessarily surprising or even awful...
Criterion Collection: Eraserhead | Blu-ray Review
There was a time, not very long ago, when obtaining a decent copy of David Lynch’s first masterpiece, Eraserhead, was problematic. Selected in 2004...
Criterion Collection: The Innocents | Blu-ray Review
Being that director Jack Clayton grew up with the misfortune of having no father figure, he grew up with a deep affinity for the...
Good People | Review
People Are People: Genz’s English Debut a Satisfactory B-Grade Noir
Expectations may a bet set a bit too high for Danish filmmaker Henrik Ruben Genz’s...
Stop The Pounding Heart | Review
The Heart She Holler: Minervini Caps Texas Trilogy With Christian Corset
A hybrid of documentary aesthetic and subdued narrative happenings, the third film in a...
The Maze Runner | Review
Mazed and Confused: Ball’s Lusterless Debut Another Dystopic YA Derivative
Pretty teenagers that survive the apocalypse are sure going to have it tough. Or maybe...
Tracks | Review
It’s Easier For a Camel: Curran’s Curious Reenactment of a Strange Journey
Early on in John Curran’s Tracks, which charts the 2,000 mile journey of...
The Zero Theorem | Review
Black Holes and Revelations: Gilliam’s Cluttered Dystopia a Mixed Return to Form
In what stands as his best film since 1998’s Fear and Loathing in Las...
Space Station 76 | Review
Earth Below Us: Plotnick’s Debut a Sweet Space Soap Opera
Those familiar with the comedic genius of Jack Plotnick should be thrilled to see his...
The Guest | Review
Lone Survivor: Wingard’s Latest a Near Perfect Mix of Subtext, Comedy and Satisfying Thrills
After contributing to several anthology films, including the V/H/S films and...
Pasolini | 2014 TIFF Review
The Gospel According to Pier: Ferrara Poetically Captures an Auteur’s Last Day on Earth
It appears that 2014 marks a resounding return for auteur Abel...
Frailer | 2014 TIFF Review
A Peculiar Experiment in Content Guiding Form
Experimental director Mijke de Jong’s latest feature-length film, is a curious exercise in content guiding form. It’s ostensibly...
Tusk | 2014 TIFF Review
Another Tuskegee Experiment: Smith’s Latest Creation Odd But Not Audacious
Sure to garner all the WTF exclamatory delights that it’s had its grotesque little heart...
This is Where I Leave You | Review
This is Where I Judge You: In the Great Well of Family Drama, Levy Is Dry
Based on the acclaimed novel by Jonathan Tropper, who...
Kelly & Cal | Review
Shared Tendencies: McGowan’s Debut an Understated Navigation of Character
While she’s not treading uncharted territories with her directorial debut, Kelly & Cal, Jen McGowan manages...
’71 | 2014 TIFF Review
Control: A Frenzied Look at the Early Days of the IRA
Yann Demange, whose resume consists of serviceable, albeit unexceptional, television fare, has achieved the...
Life’s a Breeze | Review
The Little Foxes: Daly’s Heartfelt Family Drama Pleasantly Rendered
Arriving with a bit more investment than its airy title would suggest, Lance Daly returns to...
Bang Bang Baby | 2014 TIFF Review
Campy Histrionics at Their Most Mediocre
Canadian director Jeffrey St. Jules has demonstrated an aptitude for experimenting with the cinematic form and creating hyper-realized, wildly...
At the Devil’s Door | Review
Devil in Disguise: McCarthy’s Latest an Unnerving Indie Horror Film
Every now and then, a horror film comes along that’s reminiscent of a certain heyday...
Tales of the Grim Sleeper | 2014 TIFF Review
In Broomfield We Trust: Docu-helmer Hits the Pavement on Decades Sprawling South Central Serial Murder Case
Harkening back to his fascination with the backwoods serial...
In the Crosswind | 2014 TIFF Review
Capturing History Through the Art of Tableau
Despite only having a couple of short films under his belt, Estonian director Martti Helde’s feature film debut,...
They Have Escaped | 2014 TIFF Review
Running on Empty: Valkeapaa’s Vicious Road Trip
We may have seen similar iterations of outcast, adolescent misfits refusing to conform to the world’s expectations many...
High Society | 2014 TIFF Review
Is There More to this Coming-of-Age Parable Than Meets the Eye?
One of the key specificities about the production of Julie Lopes Curval’s latest exploration...
The Vanished Elephant | 2014 TIFF Review
A Puzzle within a Puzzle within a Puzzle
Initially, The Vanished Elephant, Javier Fuentes-León’s follow-up to the well-received ghost story, Undertow, has a surprisingly unpolished...
Bird People | Review
Tweets and FaceTimes: Pascale Ferran Returns with Uneven But Adventurous Realist-Fantasy
There are a number of films scattered throughout that are intent on depicting how...
Honeymoon | Review
Period of Adjustment: Janiak’s Eerie Relationship Chiller a Provocative Debut
Weirdly unsettling, Leigh Janiak’s directorial debut, Honeymoon, is one of those rarely effective offbeat psychological...
I Am Here | 2014 TIFF Review
Wherein We Learn that Both Money and Karaoke are the Real Roots of All Evil
Lixin Fan, director of the Chinese migrant worker doc, Last...
Red Rose | 2014 TIFF Review
Beware the Beauty of the Single Red Rose
Though she’s lived in France for more than three decades, Sepideh Farsi has carved out a career...
My Old Lady | 2014 TIFF Review
Seeds of Yesterday: Horovitz’s Debut a Tonally Uncomfortable Adaptation
Playwright and screenwriter Israel Horovitz makes his directorial debut with My Old Lady, an adaptation of...
IONCINEPHILE of the Month: Craig Johnson (The Skeleton Twins)
IONCINEMA.com’s IONCINEPHILE of the Month feature focuses on an emerging filmmaker from the world of cinema. This September, we put the spotlight on the...
Craig Johnson’s Top Ten Films of All Time List
Have you ever wondered what are the films that inspire the next generation of visionary filmmakers? As part of our monthly IONCINEPHILE profile (read...
Waste Land | 2014 TIFF Review
Fear in a Handful of Dust: Van Hees Completes Trilogy with Dark Metaphor
Belgian director Pieter Van Hees completes his thematically connected "Anatomy of Love and...
Return to Ithaca | 2014 TIFF Review
Shared Tendencies: McGowan’s Debut an Understated Navigation
Palme d’Or winning director Laurent Cantet continues a tour outside of France with his latest feature, the carefully...
Out of Nature | 2014 TIFF Review
A Hollow World of Obligations
Ole Giæver’s sophomore feature, Out of Nature, very much resembles—in setting, structure and thematic preoccupation—his short film work and prior,...
The President | 2014 Venice Film Festival Review
The Emperor’s New Clothes: Makhmalbaf’s Conspicuous Allegory
Early on in Mohsen Makhmalbaf’s grimly steadfast The President, you may start by racking your brain for specific...
Cut Snake | 2014 TIFF Review
Out of the Past: Ayres’ Neo-noir is a Pulpy Brood
With a little luck, Australian director Tony Ayres’ latest film, Cut Snake will evolve beyond...
The Great Man | 2014 TIFF Review
A More Accurate Title Might Have Been The “Good” or “Serviceable” Man
Much like Kathryn Bigelow does with many of her works or like Jasmine...
The Drop | 2014 TIFF Review
Dog Day Afternoon: Roskam Sets Romance Amidst Insider Heist
Coming off the white hot success of his hard hitting, Oscar nominated debut, Bullhead, Michaël Roskam...
